News
Local

Queen's University roommates, from left, Rachel Albi, Sarnia's Erica Gagne, Jessica Jonker and Amanda Smurthwaite started the Facebook profile Queens U Compliments. The concept has since spread to about 100 other schools. QMI AGENCY

Erica Gagne’s already busy schedule got a lot busier this fall when the Sarnia woman and her Queen’s University roommates decided to boost spirits around campus.

Feeling a little blue after returning to school in September, they decided to set up a Facebook page and post anonymous compliments submitted by students and staff at their Kingston university.

It took off in a way the four friends never expected.

Their page, Queens U Compliment, recently maxed out at Facebook’s 5,000 friend limit. That came after the roommates’ story ran in Time Magazine and their idea spread to about 100 other schools around the world.

“We never thought it would get this big,” said Gagne, 20, a third-year music student.

She and her roommates each spend about two hours daily, checking over and posting submitted compliments — all on top of classes and part-time jobs.

“At times it’s stressful,” Gagne said. “We’ll yell at each other because we all get so busy.”

But, she said, the project has also brought the four roommates closer together.

The flow of compliments slowed over the holidays but normally runs at about 50 per day, she said.

The idea for the page came to the roommates as the fall semester began.

One of the posts on Dec. 20 was, “To the adorable ladies at the library cafe who were casually caroling as they cleaned and gave me an extra cookie for free.”

Gagne grew up in Sarnia, attending Bright’s Grove Public School and Northern Collegiate.

“I’m very proud of her,” said her mother Ann Oreskovich.

The project made waves when Time Magazine contacted the roommates in the fall for a story about the Facebook page and how the idea had spread to Brown University, Columbia University, Yale and other schools.

“That was pretty cool,” Gagne said.

That’s also when most people on campus at Queens learned the four friends were behind the page.

Before that, the roommates’ had even been the subject of a few anonymous compliments sent in by friends who didn’t know they ran the page, Gagne said.

“It was cool to see.”

Gagne said she and her roommates wondered if the number of compliments would begin dropping off once Time spilled the beans, but it hasn’t so far.

The four friends, she said, hope their project can go on spreading a little happiness at their school.